


Making friends

by LaurelinsSong



Series: Tilting at Windmills [1]
Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Gen, M/M, Platonic Female/Male Relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-04-13
Packaged: 2019-11-08 14:39:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17983016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaurelinsSong/pseuds/LaurelinsSong
Summary: 20 billion humans in the Milky Way, 20 thousand on the Hyperion. Whatever the odds where, Reyes sure as hell didn’t expect to run into someone who knew him pre-initiative





	1. Skyllian Verge

**Author's Note:**

> Chapters may get shuffled if I write more and want to keep them roughly chronological

The explosion came just as the Batarian’s fist again struck his ribs, just above the shallow and slow bleeding cut inflicted earlier by the Turian. The thug snarled and his head whipped round attempting to follow the sound. Running feet and voices echoed outside the room where Reyes found himself in his current predicament. Tied to a chair and having the snot beaten out of him, by one who was unfortunately immune to his charm. 

“Shouldn’t you check that?” He pulled up his most insouciant grin, the effect somewhat marred by the current damage to his features “I am at leisure.” The hand came up again and this time cracked itself sharply across his face. Fresh blood welled up in his mouth. Spitting he used his tongue to make a cursory examination of his teeth. All still present and accounted for. 

The Batarian’s lips curled as he lined up for another strike. A radio crackled and a harsh voice echoed across the line. His omnitool and thus his translator had been damaged in the scuffle, but whatever had been said caused his captor to snarl again as the fist impacted the already cracked ribs; and then, mercifully, leave. 

The sounds of chaos continued from outside the room. Reyes tested his bonds again, trying to work the feeling back into his fingers and loosen the bindings enough to free himself. A scraping sound and a clatter from his left interrupted his progress. A wall panel dropped, quickly followed by muffled cursing and a small, female figure falling inelegantly to the floor. Recovering quickly, she made her way to him and cut through the cable. He brought his hands forward and rubbed his wrists as she moved fully into his field of view. 

“Making friends again I see?” The cheekiness of her tone was contradicted by the worry in her eyes as she made a quick scan of his injuries and slipped his arm across her shoulder. “Can you walk? I’d rather not hang around and wait for them to finish clearing up that mess.” She flashed a saucy smile, “Burning varren shit has a hell of a stench.” 

The pain in his ribs was not enough to stop the laugh that bubbled up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm useless at tagging and my ofc doesn't even have a name because I never actually plan things *hides face behind hands*


	2. Omega

The thumping beat pounding out of Afterlife’s sound system did little to drown out a familiar laugh as it cascaded across the bar. He turned slightly and angled his body in the direction from which it had come. There. What was she doing here and what exactly was she doing with that piece of absolute shit? 

His eyes narrowed and took in the scene. Slightly unsteady. Smiling, flirting as she placed her hand on the bruiser’s chest. Eyes glassy and there, a flash of blue. He frowned. Her biotics he knew, were weak. “Can’t even throw a plate at someone’s head with ‘em” she’d once told him cheerfully, “better result if I just do it the old-fashioned way. Less effort and much less likely to make my brain bleed.” Something was not right. 

He hesitated a moment. She didn’t look displeased with the thug’s attentions. He was supposed to be meeting a contact. It would not do to be drawing attention to himself. But he owed her father. He owed HER. 

He reminded himself that he is not a good man and should not be rescuing damsels who may not be in distress even as he found himself pushing away from the bar and swaggering toward the couple. 

Leaning once again on the bar he signalled the bartender with a finger before facing her and turning on the full force of his charm. “Making friends again I see.”

“Reyes!” She cried happily, throwing her arms around his neck and planting a sloppy kiss on his cheek. “I haven’t seen you in forever. And ever and ever and ever.” He brushed his lips lightly across her temple and felt the static charge. Definitely not right. She was always an affectionate drunk, but her biotics never simmered to the surface. Another flash of blue. 

“Are you going to introduce me to your friend?” He indicated her companion with a nod. The man did not look pleased, rather agitated and moving swiftly into belligerent.

“Oh of course! This is…” her voice trailed off and her face took on a puzzled air before clearing. “He brought me a drink. It’s called a Mars Explosion. It’s red!” She gestured happily to the glass on the bar before picking it up and taking a healthy swallow.

“And laced with red sand no doubt” he growled at the man, hand twitching slightly towards his sidearm. It was at this point that the merc seemed to realise that perhaps the former amiability was, well, not. Reyes could practically see the mental arithmetic taking place in the man’s head before his sense of self-preservation kicked in. 

“Oh” she said watching the retreating form, “I didn’t get to thank him for the drink”

“Come on, I’ll take you home.”

“Are you going to take me to bed?” The look she shot him was sly and he huffed out a laugh before kissing her forehead again. His contact could wait.

“I am a perfect gentleman.” He replied, dipping into what could only be termed a courtly bow. 

Too late he realised that she was perhaps a little further gone than he had thought, when devoid of his support she began to list. “Whoa there”, he pulled her unsteady form to his side. “Ask me again when you are sober and not dusted.” He’d expected the grin, but not the playful nip at his ear and purr that followed.

“Promise”


	3. Kadara: Late Afternoon

She looked up from where she was sorting the equipment scattered across her new workspace to find herself being watched by a young man slouching against the wall behind her, tension in his crossed arms belying his otherwise relaxed façade.

She turned fully and gave him a long appraising look: “Pathfinder. To what do I owe this honour?”  
“You know Vidal,” the young man straightened, “from the Milky Way.”  
“Yes.”

The silence lengthened while he waited for her to continue. She didn’t. 

“How?” it came out short and sharp, in a tone that he himself looked somewhat surprised to hear. 

“He did, on occasion” she replied mildly “do business with my father.”   
“What kind?”   
“Oh, the usual kind.” 

His face crinkled in a look that clearly expressed his displeasure at her non-answers.   
She suppressed the urge to smile. “My father owns, or I guess I should say owned, a cargo freighter. I rarely inquired into their exact business whenever we chanced to meet.”   
The latter was a blatant lie. She knew the exact details of every transaction, legitimate or otherwise that her father had been involved in, but let Reyes keep his secrets.

Suppressing a sigh, “What is this really about Pathfinder?” She leant back against the bench and unconsciously echoed his original stance. 

“Reyes seems fond of you.”

Now we get to the crux of the matter. A head tilt and raised eyebrow invites him wordlessly to continue.

“What is your relationship with him?” 

She let the bemused smirk slip onto her features, “Jealous are we Pathfinder.?”

“Are you fucking him?” His eyes widened and his face reddened at what he had just said. 

Sighing she leant down and snagged a bottle from one of the boxes at her feet. “It’s complicated.” beckoning him, she moved towards the door.

“Come now Pathfinder. This is not a conversation I plan to have sober.”


	4. Kadara: Evening

Reyes wasn’t sure what he expected to find when he walked into the Pathfinder’s quarters in Ditaeon. It certainly wasn’t his lover and his past in a tangle of limbs, the young man laughing as the woman inspected his feet, face mere inches from his toes. “They are webbed!” Obviously drunken giggles escaped the pair then as the woman rolled and hit the floor with a thunk. “Ow!”

Scott had looked up at that moment and his face had broken into a glorious smile “Reyes!” 

The obvious delight with which the Pathfinder greeted him made his own lips curl up in response. Moving forward his boot nudged an obviously empty bottle. He looked down and saw that it had several companions also fallen in battle. 

He smirked down at the woman gazing up at him blearily from the floor. “Making friends again I see” The laughter he was rewarded with would be worth whatever damage control he had to do in the morning.


	5. Kadara: Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after the night before.

Reyes looked up from the numbers he was running on his data pad at the sounds of movement from the bed. A low groan followed by a pained “Fuck” had him smirking into his mug. The growled response of “No. Sleeping” saw him taking a drink to suppress his chuckles. More groans and a loud 'ooooft' as limbs were disentangled and elbows and knees met stomachs and legs. One set of feet eventually hit the floor, the other pair still kicking uselessly at a twisted blanket. 

He’d been surprised when Ryder hadn’t come to see him when the Tempest had docked, his assets informing him that he’d headed straight to the Outpost. After waiting a few hours and receiving no call, Reyes had not, despite Keema’s teasing, made an excuse to visit the colony. It was perfectly legitimate Collective business that led him across the badlands to Ditaeon that afternoon. And it wasn’t until he’d concluded his discussion with Tate that he’d enquired about the Pathfinder. The smile he had received had been all too knowing but the answer had followed quickly enough. “Yeah he’s here.” 

His mug was taken from his hand pulling him from his reverie.  
“Fucking hell that’s vile” a pair of brown eyes met his, slightly bloodshot and filled with disgust. “That is not coffee”  
“No, it’s not” Taking the mug back he took a long swallow. 

The second body had now managed to fully extract itself from the blanket trap and was at least now sitting up. “You drinking that godawful Angaran tea again?”  
“It’s an acquired taste.”

“Please tell me there is coffee”  
Chuckling, he pointed towards the pot brewing on the counter and watched as Dulcie dug through the cupboards for a mug.

“Cream, no sugar.”  
She rolled her eyes but prepared another cup and took it to the bed, settling beside the younger man with a contented sigh. 

Reyes stood and placed his mug and data pad on a side table. “I see how it is, trying to steal my boyfriend.”  
“Mm. I like this one. He’s good to cuddle. Maybe we can work out time a share agreement.” Her next words were directed at the AI who had so far been silent. “SAM think you can set up a schedule?”  
“Of course Miss Petridis, do you prefer mornings or afternoons?” Was it possible for an AI to sound amused?

“SAM!” One a huffed laugh and one practically a growl.

Reyes stalked to the bed and captured the younger man’s mouth in a possessive kiss.  
The coffee slipped from Ryder’s grasp and Dulcie caught it before she wore it. Both men were flushed and grinning by the time they drew apart. 

She handed Ryder back his mug and hopped off the bed grabbing her shoes and jacket. “Well nice as it would be to watch you play kissy face all morning, some of us have work to do.” She turned back as the door slid open. “Oh and SAM, call me about that schedule.” She made it through the door just before the pillow aimed at her head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah so my girl now has a name, and a back story and spends a lot of time chattering in my ear about everything. I've never really written an OC like this before or had a muse that just wouldn't shut up.


	6. Interlude: Kadara

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keema on Reyes

Keema had always considered herself a pretty good judge of character, and she’d liked Reyes from the minute she met him. Liked him. Didn’t necessarily trust him. He wore his amiability and charm too much like a mask and she had a strong feeling that there was a lot more under that mask than he would ever show. The man kept a tight control on any outward show of emotion beyond a sort of sly amusement. Reyes Vidal she was sure, was a more complicated man than many saw. 

She wasn’t really surprised then when he started to feel her out on Sloane, the Charlatan and the future of Kadara. When he finally got to the point, she was happy enough to throw her lot in with him and the Collective and become a partner in the overthrow. She still didn’t trust him. But as he began to trust her, they became friends, he began to open up a little. She saw a little more of the emotion that he kept under wraps. Anger at Sloane, the Nexus, the whole situation; Fear and an overwhelming sense of loneliness. That didn’t mean there wasn’t contingency plans in place for when he inevitably betrayed her.

It was his reaction to the human Pathfinder however, that truly made her think she had thrown her lot in with the right person, because Reyes Vidal was absolutely smitten. To anyone who hadn’t been observing him as closely as she had it wouldn’t have been as obvious. She wasn’t sure he realised it, but it was there whenever they were mentioned. And they were mentioned a lot. Mostly by Reyes. 

There was passion lurking in those depths, the capacity for absolute loyalty and devotion. The morning after Sloane’s party he was positively giddy. She’d pushed him then to reveal all to the Pathfinder because suddenly, what she feared more than his betrayal was his broken heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I need to come up with a better title for this series. And better descriptions


End file.
